It has been one year since I wrote about Social Security and the IRS unfairly deducting money from the tax refund of Mike Samonds in Glenarm. This week, the government said it would at least temporarily stop going after people like him.

This follows an April 10 story in the Washington Post in which Mike’s problem was featured. CBS News picked up the same story and, just like that, the Social Security Administration and the IRS backed off. That’s called “clout,” I think.

But that clout came a little late for Mike and Brenda Samonds and for George and Jill Murphy in Virden, who had the same problem this year.

In Mike’s case, last year’s federal tax refund was deducted by $189.10. The IRS said it was to pay an old debt to Social Security. Mike’s dad, Harry, died in 1969 when Mike was 15. Social Security was charging that, 40 years ago, it overpaid Mike’s survivor benefits by $189.10. Mike knew nothing about it since the checks had been sent to his mother, Gladys, who has since died. In fact, the notice about overpayment was sent to the address where Mike lived 40 years ago.

Jill Murphy has a similar story this year. Her father, Joe Musso, died in Virden in 1974. Jill had just graduated from high school and received survivor benefits from Social Security. Those payments were supposed to cease when she married a couple of years later.

“They continued to pay me,” Jill says. “I got a letter that we had to refund the money, which I did.” She did that in 1978.

“So then I got a letter last fall from the IRS,” she says. “The letter went to Jill Musso at an address that doesn’t even exist. But you know how a small town is. The address was for what’s an empty lot next to my mother-in-law’s house. But the postman delivered it to her, knowing we are related.”

The letter said Jill should remit $174.90 to the government to cover that old debt, the one she already paid in 1978.

Jill’s one of those people who doesn’t throw anything away. She still had the receipt from 1978 that said “balance due: none.” And it was on Social Security letterhead. She and George took it to the Social Security office in Litchfield. Sorry, they were told, not good enough. We need more verification.

They were told Jill could file an appeal, which would involve a lot of work, and in the meantime the government would take the money from her tax refund, which it did.

Coincidentally, a postcard arrived the next day from U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’s office to the effect that he had staffers coming to Virden to assist people with problems. Jill and George went there, and Meg Kettlekamp, an aide from Davis’s office, said she would look into it. She did, but didn’t have any more luck than the Murphys did.

Page 2 of 2 - Now came another stroke of good fortune. Jill’s mother never threw anything away, either. Jill was looking for an old insurance policy when her attention was drawn to her mom’s lockbox.

“Something led me to look at that lockbox,” Jill says. “In that, I found a letter from Social Security that said they had taken that $174.90 out of mom’s first benefit check. The date on it was Dec. 18, 1987.”

So the debt had been paid twice.

Jill got that information to Kettlekamp, and a couple of days ago, the IRS put $174.90 back into Jill’s bank account.

“I find it odd that this all fell into place,” says Jill. “I got the letter from Davis the next day after Social Security told me there was nothing I could do but appeal. Then I met with Meg. Then I was just looking for something else and something led me to that lockbox of mom’s and there was that letter from Social Security.”

The Washington Post reported that this has been going on all over the country because of a clause that was added to the farm bill (the farm bill?) three years ago. It lifted the 10-year statute of limitations on old debts to the government. It meant it was open season on people who didn’t even know they allegedly owed these debts because of things that happened to their parents 30-40 years ago.

And, as I said earlier, in the aftermath of the Post story, the government has promised to “suspend” its aggressive collection policy while it conducts a review. Had it done so earlier, it would have saved the Samondses and the Murphys, and apparently a lot of other innocent people around the country, a lot of headaches.

Know of something quirky? Emotional? Funny? Inspiring? Dave Bakke is your man and his deadline is always near. Pitch your idea to him at dave.bakke@sj-r.com or (217) 788-1541. His column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. To read more, visit www.sj-r.com/bakke.